Stuck in Disneyland
by ZeroLuver567
Summary: Nico didn't want to go to Disneyland. The idea of large crowds, long lines for rides that weren't even that exciting, and annoying songs made his head want to explode. But of course, he got conned into going anyways. He was determined to not enjoy this trip, but of course, Disneyland isn't called the "Happiest Place of Earth" for nothing. Multi-Chapter. No pairings except cannon.
1. Entrance

**So I realize I just started yet another fanfiction to add to my growing list of stories, but this idea was too good not to be pursued.**

**This will most likely be told entirely from Nico's POV unless I decide to have the group split up. I haven't decided yet.**

I

Nico wished that he wasn't such a nice person.

Standing in atrociously long lines at eight-o-clock in the morning on a Saturday, the day when the park was MOST CROWDED, was the last thing he wanted to do. But of course, when the idea had come up, Hazel had given him these really big, pleading eyes, and he couldn't bring himself to say no.

Disneyland was, in his opinion, a really big scam. It's supposed to be the "Happiest Place on Earth." Nico had it filed under, "one of the most annoying places in existence." The whole idea that someone could stand in long lines, and go on rides centered around some stupid mouse, AND be HAPPY was completely beyond him. He understood the little children. Children could find happiness in almost anything; it was one of the beauties of childhood innocence. But that was completely unrealistic. Reality is looking the mouse in the face, and realizing that no matter how many songs they stuff down your throat, and smiles they throw your way, ultimately, life isn't butterflies and rainbows. Life is destructive, a war that only ends in death. Any happiness or hope found in Walt Disney's characters is only temporary.

Reyna looked just about as comfortable with the situation as he felt, but when Jason had asked her to come, she hadn't refused. Nico had spent enough time with her carrying that statue cross-country that he knew she still had feelings for him. She hadn't given up hope just yet.

Jason and Piper were up front with Leo, leading their little band. The "cast" members, as the park likes to call their on-site staff, were taking pictures of them on I-phones, and transferring them somehow into the barcode of their park-hopper passes. Nico wasn't good with technology, but he guessed this made it easier for the park to identify customers when they came back through the gate, instead of dealing with the hassle of ID's.

Hazel was standing on his right, hand in hand with Frank, so excited that her curly hair was bouncing despite the fact that she tried to keep herself from jumping up and down. Nico had sudden flashbacks to when he was still really into Mythomagic. Had he really looked so ecstatic about something so childish?

Percy and Annabeth were in front of him, having now replaced Jason and Piper, who had already had their tickets scanned and were inside the park. Percy was getting berated by the photographer for trying to make faces, since he kept contorting his facial features to be unrecognizable. Annabeth seemed to find this scolding funny, and kept teasing him all the way through the turnstile.

"Next?"

Frank poked Nico in the back, which made him grit his teeth. He wondered if it was too late to back out now, but then he glanced over at Hazel, and once again made the mistake of being too nice of a person.

He sighed in defeat and stepped up to the woman and gave her the stupid ticket Jason had forced upon him that morning.

"Okay, now smile!"

Nico clenched his fists to restrain himself from punching this woman in the face. He wasn't even inside yet, and people were already asking him to smile, when he CLEARLY, didn't even want to be here.

"Yeah, no."

The woman looked a little weirded out by his response, but she just shrugged and snapped a picture of his probably unhappy face anyways. He snatched the ticket back from her, and went up to the second staff member who was standing behind a computer, scanning tickets for admission. The man was trying very hard to smile and not look bored, and Nico wondered if they forced all of their workers to be upbeat on a regular basis. No wonder everyone in the ads looked like they were going insane. There was probably a miserable actor underneath that happy fosod screaming "LET ME OUT OF HERE!"

He pushed himself through the turnstile and went up to his five predecessors, thrusting his hands in his jacket pockets. Percy was trying to convince Annabeth that Hercules was DEFINITELY the best movie Disney had ever created, whereas his girlfriend seemed to be of the opinion that Beauty and the Beast was much better. Leo was standing next to the couple, looking a little awkward. Jason and Piper were standing facing the train station, which was elevated on a hill above them. The hill was covered with bright, impeccably kept flowers in the design of a pastel color Mickey Mouse. Branching off in two directions were two tunnels that led into Main Street, U.S.A. which he only happened to know existed because Hazel kept going over Jason's maps before they left.

"You could at least PRETEND that you're going to enjoy yourself."

Nico shook his head at Percy, and glanced over at Jason and Piper, who had been joined by Frank and Hazel. Nearby, Reyna was talking to one of the security guards, probably trying to figure out possible escape routes, should they be attacked by some monster. With so many powerful demigods in one place, it was bound to happen. She was carrying her sword, which Nico hoped looked like something harmless, like a cane or something. Jason had told them that they were sticklers on those kinds of things here.

"I'm only here because Hazel asked me to be. That doesn't mean I have to enjoy myself."

Percy made a face at him, "What's the fun in that? It's DISNEYLAND not the deepest pits of hell."

"All the more reason for me NOT to be here."

"Why do you have to always be such a downer," Percy complained, and Annabeth poked him in the side.

"Come on Percy, leave him alone. It's his choice if he decides to be unhappy."

Nico wasn't sure what he would have said, because at that moment, Jason came up behind him. Nico stepped aside to make room for him, and the nine of them formed a small circle, as out of the way of the tourist groups as they could get. Jason knelt on the ground and spread out a map of the park.

"Okay, so once we fight our way through Main Street, we can go straight to the castle and go through to Fantasyland. Or we can veer right and go to Tomorrowland. On the right there is Frontierland, which branches off into New Orleans's Square and Critter Country. Also to the right, is Adventureland."

"What about this one, in the back?" Hazel asked, leaning over just enough to tap a spot on the map, and then straightening.

"That's Mickey's Toon Town," Annabeth answered, "It has a couple of really tiny rides for kids and such. That's also where they have these little houses with the characters so tourists can take pictures."

Percy was kneeling next to Jason, studying the map with interest, "What's Space Mountain?"

"It's a roller coaster," said Piper, "It's all indoors, and it's supposed to create the sensation of flying through space."

"Let's go there!" Percy said excitedly, standing up, "That sounds cool."

Annabeth sighed, "You know if we were to do this efficiently we would be better off just getting Fast Passes for all the big rides, and doing smaller rides first."

"What are Fast Passes?" asked Frank. He didn't seem particularly interested in the conversation to Nico, but he did look happy. Probably because he was with Hazel, and this is the most relatively normal thing they've done since Gaea's defeat.

_What a depressing thought._

"Fast Passes are these little tickets that you can get for certain rides that allow you to come back later on in the day, within a certain time slot, and get on rides first," said Annabeth.

"I like that idea," said Reyna, "We won't have to wait in lines as long."

"Okay so how about this?" Jason said, "We send one or two people to go get Fast Passes for Space Mountain and Star Tours, since they're both in Tomorrowland, and then they come back and meet us in the line for the Astro-Blaster, which is in the same area."

"Astro-Blaster?" Hazel asked, looking a little skeptical.

"It's a Toy Story ride that's kind of like a life-sized video game."

Percy was nodding, beginning to look impatient. Nico tried not to notice that he looked kind of cute. His eyebrows were kind of scrunched together and he had started bouncing on the balls of his feet.

_Snap out of it Nico_ he chided himself. He couldn't think about that.

"So it's decided," Jason stood and folded the map, "Lets see if we can fight our way to Tomorrowland."

The group set out, and Nico found himself hanging back away from the couples with Leo and Reyna. Leo was glancing around them, looking a little nervous, and fiddling with parts from his toolbelt. Reyna's gaze was cool and calculating as she scanned the buildings and trolley carts. The whole place looked like it had been pulled straight out of an old movie.

"I heard that Walt Disney designed this part of the park to look like his hometown," said Reyna nonchalantly.

"So?" Nico asked. Reyna wasn't the type to spout of meaningless facts. If she felt the need to point out something, it was probably for a good reason.

"Well, I was just thinking, of all the places for a potential enemy to hide out, this would probably be the best one."

Leo was nodding, "Yeah, it's the most crowded. Much easier to hide. Cause you know, a lot of potential demigod meals come to Disneyland on a regular basis."

Nico had to agree with Leo, sarcastic or not. What were the odds that some monster would be hanging around a place crawling with so many mortals? It was too bright and sunshiny for any monster to want to hang around for long. Not to mention, no sane person would want to spend more than five minutes in this place. Then again, they were all still here.

"We'll just have to keep a wary eye out," Nico said, fingering the pommel of his sword.

Reyna nodded and Leo suddenly stopped.

"What? Do you see something?" Reyna asked, fingers itching towards her sword.

Leo shook his head furiously, "Look!"

"What? What am I looking for?"

Leo got this really big grin on his face that made Nico's senses instantly go on high alert. He didn't have much of a relationship with Leo, but he knew a troublemaker when he saw one. Whatever idea was going on inside his little head wouldn't end well.

"The trolleys!" he said excitedly.

"There are no trolleys. Those are automated, horseless carriages," Nico said. He glanced over to where he had last seen Percy and the others, and realized they had been left behind. Oh well. They would catch up. This place couldn't be THAT hard to navigate.

Leo seemed incapable of speaking with any sense, "How can you NOT see it?!"

"See what?!" Reyna looked like she was about to pulverize Leo, "You're not making any sense?!"

"Look, on the side. There's the symbol of Hephaestus! It's really small, almost blended into the metal, but it's definitely there."

"So?" Nico stepped out the way of a tourist who had been intending to push him out of the way, "Come on, we're holding up traffic flow."

"SO I just had this crazy thought," Leo said "What if this whole place was created by demigods?"

"Come on Leo, don't be ridiculous," Reyna said, "Walt Disney was an ambitious mortal man. Nothing more. Let's just go."

"You don't know that," Leo countered.

Nico let out an audible sigh of exasperation, "Look, it doesn't matter. We're here for the day. So let's just get it over with, instead of trying to find godly influence, where there CLEARLY is none."

"You're such a downer," Leo stuck his tongue out at him, mimicking Percy's earlier statement, which Nico chose to tactfully ignore. Leo was enough of a pain as it was. No reason to encourage him.

They started to make their way to Tomorrowland, which took much longer than Nico would have liked. By the time they arrived, the rest of their group was already in line, except for Annabeth and Percy, who were collecting Fast Passes.

"What took you guys so long?" Jason asked as they stepped over the makeshift, plastic chain link railing.

"Leo kept seeing things that weren't there," Nico replied.

"Oh come on, just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it wasn't there!"

"Like Santa Clause?" Piper asked, obviously teasing.

"Shut up, Pipes."

Hazel pushed Jason aside so that she could stand next to Nico, who was thinking how the line was moving frustratingly slow, for a "small" ride. She looked embarrassed about something.

"What's wrong?" Nico asked. He wondered if Jason or Frank had said something scandalous. Then decided that probably wasn't it, because neither of them were likely to curse, much less be vulgar. Piper on the other hand…

"Um, Frank said I was crazy for not knowing what Toy Story was. And now he's pretending not to speak to me."

"Pretending?" Nico asked. Hazel nodded, smiling a little.

"He'll come crawling back in a few minutes," she said.

"So what's the problem?"

"I don't like not knowing what most of this stuff is. I mean, I've seen some Disney movies with Piper but not very many. It's not like we've had all the time in the watch them."

"If it makes you feel any better, I haven't seen any Disney movies."

"None? Ever?"

Nico thought back to the Lotus Hotel, and the one night when he and Bianca had turned on the television in their room, and there had been some sort of bright cartoon playing. It had nearly given his older sister a heart attack, but Nico remembered which movie it was.

"No, I've seen Aladdin. But that's it."

"Wow," Jason said, "If you weren't you, I would probably question your life choices."

Nico sent him a glare as Leo snorted behind him, "What's so funny?"

"Nothing. Pretend I never said anything."

Nico shrugged it off. Percy and Annabeth came back, and he and Hazel separated to make room for them. His back ended up pressed against Jason's chest, which was uncomfortable, to say the least.

"That didn't take half as long as I expected it too," Percy said happily, waving the Fast Passes, "A lot of people don't seem to realize that these babies exist."

"That's because they're so enamored with the Disney image and trained to stand in line, they don't realize there's a better option," Frank said blandly.

"Ah yes. Oh Disneyland, you're so wonderful! Let me bask in your glory and hot sun at the sake of my aching feet and crying children! This is so wonderful!" Leo waved his arms dramatically, almost whacking Nico in the face.

"Hey! Watch it will you!"

"Sorry!"

Nico noticed a space opening up between their group and the people in front of them. He took the opportunity to break free from the crowd and enjoyed a few moments of freedom, before the line pressed up against him again. In place of Jason, Percy came up behind him, so close his arm was pressed up against his back as he turned to the side so he could keep up animated conversation with Annabeth.

Nico wondered if it was always this hot outside, and tried to squirm away. The line didn't seem to be moving anytime soon, and no one else seemed to be as bothered with the crowd as he was.

This was going to be a long day.


	2. Tomorrowland Rides Part 1

**Edited for typos~**

II

Nico was ready to bolt by the time they actually got to the front of the line. The ride was one of those that took place in the dark, which didn't bother him, but it did have cars that would force them to sit two to a seat, and it went around in a moving track that forced prospective riders to jump into their cart before it went by them. That basically meant he would be trapped inside of a tiny, continually moving contraption from which escape would be difficult.

Reyna must have noticed his discomfort because when it came his turn to jump on the stupid thing, she pushed Leo aside and joined him instead. As a result, Leo was forced to ride by himself, but Nico was okay with that. What he really wanted to know was why Reyna had chosen him over Leo.

Reyna sat on the inside of the car thing, furthest from the door. The lap bar came up from its angle below them, and thrusted some sort of gun contraption with a mini score board into their faces. Nico glanced over at Reyna, who just shrugged and picked up the plastic weapon. She tested the trigger, which made a computerized "peew" sound, and fired a single red laser dot. Nico could see the brightly colored entrance of the ride just up ahead when the ride stopped to let on someone in a wheelchair.

Judging this to be the best time to talk, Nico turned to Reyna. She was pretending to be enamored with the toy, but Nico could tell she wasn't really interested.

"This whole thing seems a little ridiculous doesn't it?"  
Reyna stopped her inspection of the toy, and glanced at him, "There are better things we could be doing," she agreed, "But I don't think this trip is a bad thing."

"Why not?" Nico asked, "You don't seem particularly excited."

Reyna shrugged, "After all the drama with Gaea, it's a kind of nice to do something fun. As for the excitement part," Reyna did her best to view her gun from all angles, which was difficult due to the thick rubber covered wires that attached it to their car, "I guess I've just forgotten what it's like to be a kid. I used to love Toy Story… but now? I can barely remember the last time I watched it."

Nico thought back to a conversation they had had once while overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, right before they had shadow travelled back to North America. It had been one of those rare nights with no monster attacks, and Coach Hedge had been off trying to Iris Message his wife. So it had given them some time to talk. He wasn't sure how it had come up, but they had started to exchange childhood stories, from before they had been claimed. Reyna had told him about growing up with Hylla, and then a little about her time on Circes' Island. Nico had told her about living in the forties, and what little he could remember about Italy. Reyna had been as good of a listener as she had been a storyteller.

"I guess being a demigod kinda puts things into perspective."

Reyna smiled, obviously remembering the same thing that he was, "I guess it does."

The ride started up again, and Reyna sent him a sly smile, which he saw out of the corner of his eye. It wasn't a look she got often, and Nico had learned to attribute it to an idea that was so ridiculous, so incredibly stupid, that it was genius.

Nico removed his gun from its holster, "First to 10,000?"

"How about 100,000."

Nico couldn't help but smile, a genuine one that didn't feel forced, "You're so going to lose."

"In your dreams."

After that their senses were assaulted by dim lighting, barely penetrated by larger than life versions of various Toy Story characters, and brightly colored targets in various geometric shapes. Nico didn't know enough about Toy Story to appreciate the story about how they were all supposed to take down some guy called Emperor Zurg, but he did know what a target was when he saw one. He started shooting at things as the cart turned on its own. Once they got to the second room he noticed that there were targets on all sides of them. He glanced down at the lapbar and saw that there was a red joystick. Curious, he pushed it, and the car lurched to the left, exposing a new array of targets. The turn was jerky, and Reyna had almost slammed into him, but he was wining. Reyna punched him lightly in the arm.

"What was that for?"

She rolled her eyes, not diverting her focus, "You surprised me. You're going to lose if you don't get your head in the game."

"Yeah, yeah," Nico refocused his attention, and before he knew it they were facing down the final boss, which, as Buzz Lightyear had kept feeling the need to tell them, was Emperor Zurg. The life sized toy didn't look evil. He just looked angry, and his only talent seemed to be shouting lame insults to his attackers.

Nico enjoyed shooting him.

They were guided into a dark room, where their guns stopped working, and their scores were locked in place. Up ahead, daylight was streaming in, bringing promise of escape.

"Well that wasn't so bad," Reyna said. She was smiling as she put her gun back in place and took a look at her score.

"Mm," Nico did the same, trying not to glance over at Reyna's side and compare their scores, "It was okay."

"Shut up," Reyna said to him in a teasing tone, "You were smiling."

Nico scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest, "Was not."

"Was too."

"You were just imagining things," Nico countered, "Anyways what did you get?"

"400,000"

"Oh really? I guess this means I win."

Reyna raised his eyebrow, "You're joking," and then she glanced at his score, "850,140? Seriously?!"

"Do I get a prize?"

"Yeah, the satisfaction of knowing that you kicked my ass," she said with a laugh. The lapbar went back down at an angle, freeing them from their entrapment. Nico stepped out onto the moving floor and speed walked to the tile ramp. Reyna was just behind him.

"You know for someone who's not even from this century, you're surprisingly good at video games."

"It's not a video game. You take the little plastic guns and shoot lasers at glowing targets. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out."

Reyna let lose a soft laugh as they walked up the ramp and looked for the others. They all seemed to be crowded around tiny computer screens that Nico couldn't see the contents off. Hazel and Frank were pressed up against one, and his half sister seemed to be dying of laughter while Frank just looked embarrassed.

"What's so funny?" Frank jumped when he came up behind him.

"Oh. Sorry you scared me."

"It's okay," Nico said, "What's so funny?" he repeated. And then realized that was a stupid question. Hazel was pointing at the screen, unable to form complete sentences.

"You turned into a dachshund?" Reyna asked.

Frank was trying hard to hide his embarrassment, "Hazel kept teasing me about losing and I got so stressed out I accidently turned into Slinky."

"Or the next best thing," Percy had come up behind them, obviously done with looking at the picture of him and Annabeth.

"You make a very cute dog Frank," Annabeth said kindly.  
"Oh gosh. Thanks. Just what I wanted to hear."

Hazel laughed again and pressed the backspace button on the touch screen, removing the picture from view, "Don't listen to them Frank. I think you made a very attractive wiener dog."

Frank sighed in defeat as Hazel kissed his cheek, "Not one word of this to Leo."

"Wouldn't dream of it," Percy said. He wrapped his arm around Annabeth's shoulder and led the way through the store selling nothing but Toy Story merchandise and back into the park.

"So what now?" Jason asked. He, Piper, and Leo had been at the entrance waiting for them. Leo looked particularly triumphant, like he had just struck gold.

"Space Mountain?" Percy held up the Fast Passes, "I think we're in our current time slot."

"It's nine already?" Piper asked. She checked her watch and sure enough. Nine o clock.

"It takes time to get through this place," Jason said, "I've meet people who have spent three days here and still didn't have time to go on every ride."

"Please tell me that we're not doing that."

Jason shook his head at his girlfriend, "We do have two day park hoppers though. So I was thinking maybe we could come back tomorrow and do California Adventure."

Reyna breathed slowly out of her nose the way she did when she was trying to keep calm. Nico was feeling the same way. He didn't really have any desire to spend more than one day in any Disney Amusement Park. He'd go insane.

"Let's just take it one day at a time," Annabeth suggested, "We should head over to Space Mountain before the Fast Pass line gets too long."

It took all of five minutes to fight through the crowd and to the entrance to Space Mountain. Another board looking attendant took their passes and Jason and Percy took off on a race to see who could climb the ramp and reach the end of the line first.

"Boys," Annabeth muttered. She and Piper were walking ahead of Nico, arm in arm, probably complaining about their boyfriends or something. Hazel and Frank were hanging back a little, holding hands, and basically taking their time. Leo was Nico's left, and Reyna was on his right. Leo was walking while looking at some sort of contraption in his hand.

"What's that?" Nico asked before he could stop himself. _Stupid_ he thought. Why the hell was he making small talk?

Leo gave his a particularly devious grin, "It's for the firework show. You'll see."

Nico could hear Reyna gritting her teeth next to him as she struggled to keep from commenting. Nico didn't like the idea of Leo tampering with the Disneyland Firework Show either, but he doubted whatever he did would hurt anyone. Probably just annoy the crowds and make some people laugh.

They eventually caught up to Percy and Jason, who were locked in an argument about who was faster.

"You totally cheated! I'm obviously faster than you!"

"In your dreams, Aquaman. You just handle the fact that I'm faster runner."

"Ladies please," Leo stepped between them and put a hand on each of their chests, "I'm sure you're both wonderful runners, but I think we all know who the real winner is."

"You just got here," Percy said.

"Slow and steady wins the race Jackson," Leo said, and pushed himself in front of them into the empty space that had developed during their argument as the line had kept moving. Leo stepped right up to the attendant, who waved him through.

"That little punk," Percy muttered.

Jason nodded, "This is completely unacceptable."

"Temporary truce until we catch him?" Percy asked.

"Deal," the two were waved through into the ride by the attendant, who ignored the fact that they just run inside, against the rules.

Annabeth glanced at Piper and they rolled their eyes in unison. Together they entered the white building as Nico and the others filed in behind.

The halls, which had been painted to look high tech and futuristic were cramped, so two small people could walk side by side, but anyone larger had to walk single file. Nico broke free from his place next to Reyna and forged ahead, eventually catching up to Percy and Jason, who had failed in their mission to beat Leo. Leo seemed to be enjoying himself, teasing them both incessantly.

Nico glanced down at the ride below them. It was a typical roller coaster, wit seating arrangement. Those who on the bottom getting off were laughing, looking like they had just had the time of their lives.

"That looks revolting."

Nico was surprised to find Hazel walking next to them as the line inched forward towards the down ramp that would take them to floor level, and their destination, "Why do you say that?"

Hazel glanced down again as other collection of cars were guided into the ride, "It just does."

Nico shrugged. He'd never really had any experiences with roller coasters. Percy had once compared the sensation that came with roller coasters with shadow traveling, but Nico wasn't quite sure if he believed him. He tended to exaggerate sometimes.

Nico glanced up ahead at Percy, who had his arm around Annabeth again. He tried to push down his growing feeling of jealousy. He hated the fact that even though he was completely aware of the fact that his feelings for Percy would never be reciprocated he still felt the way he did. Jason had tried to convince him otherwise, but Nico was convinced that his feelings were just another addition to the growing list that made him an oddity, socially unacceptable. Most of the time, he was okay with that, or at least he tried to be.

Other times, he had his doubts.

Hazel was grabbing onto the sleeve of his jacket by the time they reached the bottom. She seemed nervous, and she forced Frank to go on ahead and ride with Percy, who was standing in the line for row three talking to Annabeth and Piper, who were together in the ling for row two. Jason and Leo were still arguing in row one.

Nico dragged Hazel to row five, which was in the second car in the two car chain, right behind Percy and Frank. As they waited their turn, he pried her hands off his arm and took her face in his hands, looking her in the eyes.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Hazel nodded slowly, best she could with Nico holding her face, "Just a little freaked out, that's all."

Nico switched so that he was holding one of her hands instead. She was visibly shaking, and he squeezed her hand, trying to look reassuring.

"Hey, it's alright. It's just a ride."

Hazel looked skeptical, "People have gotten hurt on roller coasters before… And I've never been on one before."

"Me neither," Nico reminded her, "It'll be an adventure for both of us."

She nodded and smiled at him, "Yeah," The couple in front of them was let onto the ride, and they had to wait until another car came to get them, "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Has anyone ever died on roller coasters before?"

Nico figured this was part of the cause of her anxiety, so he tried to tell the truth in the least terrifying way possible, "Not on this one no."

"So people have died before?"

"Of course they have. Almost everything can kill you in one way or another. But it's rare. You're fine."

Hazel was nodding, so Nico knew he was getting through to her. They had a pretty fragile sibling relationship, since they hadn't known each other very long, and with everything that had gone on, they hadn't had much time to find common ground and connect. Nico was, however, secretly happy with the fact that she had chosen to ride with him instead of Frank.

He had to goad Hazel a little to take her seat. They buckled in, and he glanced over to her, and noticed that she was biting her lip, and gripping the handle bars in front of her like a lifeline.

"Hey," he reached over and put his hand on top of hers, "I'm right here. You're going to be fine. Remember, it's just a silly ride."

"Just a silly ride. Got it."

The car lurched forward and Nico had to grab the handle bars to keep from being sliced in half by his seatbelt. The ride started with the typical take off sequence, and then the tracks guided them into a slow uphill climb in a bright tunnel. It then peaked and turned left, giving the riders a perfect view of the complete darkness and tiny lights like stars. Nico's eyes were accustomed to total darkness, so they automatically adjusted. If he looked hard enough, he could almost see the structural support and the track.

**3… 2…1… liftoff.**

The ride increased in speed and plunged into a drop, which caused his head to whip back and his heart to start racing as all of his fight or flight senses kicked it. The whole ride was a series of twists and turns that were unforeseeable in the pitch blackness. In other words, it was an adrenaline rush. It ended in a blinding flash as the camera took a picture, and then they were slowly guided out back into the place where they had gotten on.

Hazel was rubbing her eyes, and Nico was still seeing stars, "What the Hades are they trying to do?" she complained, "Blind us?!"

Nico made a huffing sound, "Or kill us."

"Either way," Hazel said as they got off, "That was fun. Thanks for convincing me to go… If I had ridden with Frank, I don't think I would have gotten on."

"No problem," Nico tried to sound nonchalant, but truthfully, her thanks made him feel warm. Hazel didn't realize that she had that kind of effect on people, particularly he. He felt like he had done something right.

They met up with the others at the picture station again. Hazel slipped her hand into Frank's as she scanned the elevated screens.

"You didn't turn into anything this time," she commented.

"I wasn't as nervous. I've been on roller coasters before."

Hazel glanced back at Nico and rolled her eyes as if to say, _he's just embarrassed._

Nico raised his eyebrows in response and she winked and turned away. Sometimes he marveled at how easily they could have such a simple conversation with just facial expressions. He saw Leo watching them out of the corner of his eye and stared him down.

"What?"

Leo looked away, "Nothing, nothing."

"So what's next?" Percy asked, "Star Tours?"

"Yes," Annabeth checked their Fast Passes, "Then we can move on to another section of the park."

"Sounds good to me," said Piper, "Lead the way, Map Boy."

Jason led them past the crowd by the bath room and the counter top where people were buying picture. Reyna came up next to him, and leaned to whisper in his ear.

"Did you see the picture of you and Hazel?"

"No. I didn't look."

"You should have," Reyna said, "You look much better when you're smiling."

She then straightened and walked away, leaving Nico alone with his thoughts. He frowned, and then realized suddenly that it felt more forced than usual. Exactly how much time had he spent smiling today?

Way more than usual, he realized, 'cause his face was starting to hurt. He shook his head, trying to get himself to snap out of it. Nico realized he was getting left behind and was about to run to catch up when something tugged on his jacket.

It was kid, about six or seven years old. He was looking up at Nico with that face splitting smile kids tended to get when they were excited.

"Can I help you?" Nico said, and then realized how harsh that sounded.

The kid didn't seemed fazed, "I just wanted to tell you that your sword is cool."

Nico tried not to think about how weird it was that this mortal could even see it through the Mist, "Um, thanks, I guess."

"You're welcome," the kid said happily, "I should go, my dad is probably looking for me. See ya!"

The kid ran off in a blur of red hair and Mickey Mouse ears. Nico watched him go, more than a little confused with the chance encounter.

_Well…. That was weird._


	3. Tomorrowland Rides Part 2

**Sorry this took so long to update. My AP teachers are insane with the homework load.**

**Edit: I was re-reading this and caught some typos. They should be fixed now. **

III

Nico wished that he understood all of these pop culture references.

The crew members waved them through and inside the ride almost immediately. When they reached a certain point, another crew member stopped them so that they could keep those going through both lines at a fair number, since the lines merged into one at that point. Nico stared blankly at the talking robot, who was complaining to another robot apparently called R2D2. He didn't really follow or understand what was being said, so he found himself being pulled into his thoughts.

Nico thought first of the kid from outside, who seemed to have the ability to see through the Mist. The encounter had been weird, and Nico could see the irony in the kid having red hair, much like Camp Half-Blood's Oracle Rachel Elizabeth Dare. He felt sort of sorry for the kid, since his gift was probably going to get him in some serious trouble one day.

Then he got to thinking, what if he wasn't the only one who saw them for what they really were? Demigods, way out of place in this mortal haven. How screwed where they going to be when one of these people turned out to be a monster? The idea that they would get through this day unscathed was almost hilarious. There were too many powerful demigods in one place. They were probably putting off a scent so strong, every monster in Southern California would come flocking to Disneyland.

And then what? They would have to fight. That's what demigods did. Leaving the defenseless mortals to fend against monsters that had been reborn from the festering abyss that was Tartarus wasn't an option. Especially since Percy was here. He was a little bit of the heroic type, even more than most demigod heroes.

Nico glanced up ahead of him, where Hazel and Frank were holding hands facing each other. Hazel's already sparkling eyes were like diamonds, brimming with happiness that came from just doing something normal. No stress about prophecy's or impending apocalypses, just her, her boyfriend, and her friends. Nico sort of wished he could be at her level of happiness, but he couldn't help but get morbid thoughts about how this whole plan could go wrong.

A monster attack would definitely put a damper on everyone else's good mood.

Percy, who had somehow ended up behind him, nudged his back lightly. Nico shifted uncomfortably, and tried to ignore him. Which of course led to more incessant jabs from Percy. Nico tried to force down his irritation and that stupid feeling he always got when Percy showed interest in him, which felt like his heart was doing triple backflips. He finally spun around, giving the surprised son of Poseidon the best evil eye he could manage with all of his conflicting emotions. Percy suddenly looked uncomfortable, like a cornered puppy, which made Nico feel a little guilty, but he held his ground, no matter how cute his stupid face was. He wasn't cracking. Not today. Not ever.

"What do you want, Jackson?"

Percy didn't miss a beat, "You were staring off into space there for a while. I got worried."

Nico tried to not sigh in exasperation. Annabeth was glancing back in forth between them like they were an interesting tennis match. Inwardly, that should have bothered Nico, but he was too busy trying to look annoyed while his body filled with warmth with the idea that Percy could be worried about him.

"Well I'm fine. No need to worry about me," Nico felt a tug on his sleeve, and followed the perpetrator blindly; glad to have pulled out of unwanted conversation. He let Hazel drag him through the line and into yet another room with more Star Wars references he didn't understand. As they passed a robot (he thought they were called droids, but he had never seen Star Wars so he wasn't sure) their body's images were transfigured into different colors on a small screen on the droids left. He wasn't sure what that was all about, but he imagined if he understood what the droid was talking about, it would make more sense.

They moved into a tight hallway as the line split, and on Nico's right, was a neat rack of 3D glasses. He grabbed a pair as he followed Hazel past a crew member and through the turnstile, and found himself standing in the line furthest from the first line. Since there were so many in their group, they took up one line by themselves. In front of them, were sets of futuristic looking doors, waiting to admit them onto the ride. Nico played with his thick blue glasses as scanned his surroundings. Disney seemed to have a thing for tight spaces and fitting as many people into them as they possibly could. He didn't have anything against tight places as a general rule, since they were good to hide it and it was much harder to be attacked when you were hidden well, but all of the people were starting to make him feel nervous. Nico wasn't the only one who seemed to feel this way. A hastily built rubber band helicopter flew over his head, smacking Jason in a controlled flight path. Judging from Leo's cackling behind him, the helicopter had been his doing. He could hear Annabeth scolding him, and Percy joining in on the laughter as Jason turned around and tried to look angry as the happy virus infected him, and instead he was smiling back at them. Jason made eye contact with him, and Nico, suddenly feeling a little trapped, scowled at him. He wasn't entirely comfortable with Jason yet, especially after having such a violating and horrible experience in Split, but he understood that he meant well. That didn't mean Nico had to like it.

Reyna appeared at his side, wearing her 3D glasses like a headband. There was an easy smile on her face, which was good to see. Nico wondered if she had caught the happiness virus too, and then realized that was a stupid thought because happiness was an emotion not a transferable disease.

Reyna glanced at him, "You're thinking about something stupid aren't you?"

Immediately Nico's thought processes went too elephants on a unicycle, which was a bizarre product of his stressed out and panicked brain, and he tried to keep a straight face. Reyna laughed softly, despite his lack of response, and faced forward.

"So since we'll be standing here for a while, how about we play QUESTions?"

QUESTions was this silly game Coach Hedge had come up with while they had been traversing across Europe, when, despite their physical exhaustion, they were too high strung and jittery to sleep. There had been MANY monster attacks that day, more so than usual, so none of them had felt safe enough to sleep.

The idea was that each person would ask the other a question, and they had to answer as honestly has they could. They could abstain if they wanted, which Nico had taken ardent advantage of until Reyna had guilt tripped him into answering. He wasn't one for opening up, but he'd managed to trust Reyna with some pretty embarrassing childhood memories, which had pretty much solidified their friendship. Since then, whenever they were around each other, and bored out of their minds, they would play QUESTions, to pass the time.

"You first," Nico said. He was horrible with coming up with questions. They were both pretty secretive people, so it was hard to gauge what would be acceptable to ask, and what would not. Nico thrust his hands in his pockets as a figure appeared on the screen, going over safety rules and whatnot.

Reyna was a very blunt person, but he was still surprised when the first question came out of her mouth, "So, do you have a crush on Jason or something?"

Nico stared at her like a deer in the headlights. Thankfully the room was noisy, now that the safety announcements were over and people were waiting for the doors to open. No one else seemed to have heard.

Reyna had asked him every question under the sun, from his life before losing his memory to what he'd had for breakfast that morning, but until that moment, anything involving crushes or romance had been strictly off limits. Nico largely suspected that was due to the fact that Reyna was still suffering from being rejected by two guys she'd been interested in, and subconsciously, Nico thought she knew that he would shut her out if she even tried to ask. So he was more than a little surprised.

He didn't even think about his response, "What? Of course not! Why would you think that?" It came out as more of an embarrassed sputtering, and he was pretty sure he was blushing. Why did he get embarrassed so easily?

Reyna gave a small relieved smile, and Nico suddenly realized why she was asking. He didn't voice his thoughts though. If she still liked Jason that was her business.

"Because," the doors in front of them began to open and they followed the flow of traffic into the next room, which was darkly lit and lined with seats. Nico followed Reyna down the aisle and struggled to listen over the noise as they sat together on the right side of the room, away from the Seven.

"Because," Reyna repeated after strapping herself in, "You're acting weird and jumpy around him. I had noticed before, after we all met up again, when they came back from Greece, and you seem to go out of your way to avoid contact with him. Percy too, for that matter. So I just thought…"

Nico forced a laugh that sounded a little gross and more than a little creepy, and cursed himself for being so nervous about something to stupid. He didn't like the way this conversation was heading, and he scrambled for a way to escape. Reyna seemed to catch this, and shrugged.

"It's not any of my business," Reyna whispered to him as a crew member spoke over the intercom, "Sorry I asked."

Nico shook his head, glad that Reyna was perceptive enough and knew him well enough to know when she needed to stop pressing him, "No, it's okay," he whispered back, "You didn't do anything wrong."

Reyna smiled at him kindly and glanced over at the screen in front of them as it started going dark. Even though she was older, and had initially had not trusted him, their relationship had steadily gotten better, now that they had a better understanding of each other. Besides, he was technically older than her by almost a century, (when she had learned that she'd teased him a little, calling him Gramps). There was a trust with her that he hadn't had with any demigod in a long time.

Nico had some momentary confusion when the screen went fuzzy, until he realized he needed to put the glasses on. He forced the glasses onto his face just as their speed cruiser began to move underneath them, mimicking the actions on the screen. Not being grounded and stationary made him feel out of control, but he had to admit, the effects were cool. By the time the bounty hunter had been defeated and the Rebel Spy safely returned "home", Nico had almost forgotten about his whispered conversation with Reyna.

"Welp," Leo stretched when they found their way again into the sunlight, "That was fun, but the special effects could have been way better."

"What more do you want?" Jason asked, "An actual bounty hunter attacking you?"

"No" Leo said, "But those speed racers are cool. I could probably build some if I tried hard enough."

"Please don't do anything of the sort," Piper put a little charmspeak into her words, perhaps subconsciously, filling Nico with the desire to just lie down a not DO anything. For the rest of the day. That would be nice.

Jason noticed and bumped his shoulder. Nico pushed him away the best he could and glared at him, subconsciously rubbing his shoulder where Jason had hit him. Jason just grinned at him, and gestured. The others were leaving, apparently having decided to cross through Frontierland and over to New Orleans Square, where Pirates of the Caribbean and the Haunted Mansion were. The others got lost in the crowed, so Nico found himself practically left alone with Jason. Nico glared at the sunshine reflecting off of various buildings and sunglasses. He wanted nothing more to shrink back into the shadows and… go where? For once, he couldn't come up with a conceivable place he would go. All the people he cared about where here.

Jason pulled him out of his thoughts as they crossed into Frontierland and began picking their way towards New Orleans Square, "You okay?"

Nico sighed, "Why do people keep worrying about me? I'm fine," he sounded tired, even to himself. He wasn't sure how much more one-on-one interaction he could handle. Sure he liked talking to people… but that didn't mean he wasn't aware of why Jason was treating him differently than he had before the thing with Cupid. His face contorted into a frown and he tried to push the memories aside.

Jason was still talking, smiling and in good humor, "Because, silly, people worry about you. It's part of having friends."

"What like you?" Nico felt weeks of repressed anger and frustration towards Jason rising up in his throat, making it difficult to speak, "We barely speak, we have nothing in common, and honestly, before we went on that side quest, would even have bothered to talk to me at all?! No, probably not. So excuse me if I'm not exactly keen to be friends with you." Nico didn't realize he had said that all in one breath until he found himself gasping. Jason had stopped walking, and Nico found himself standing in front of him, inhibiting the flow of traffic no doubt, but Jason either didn't notice or didn't care. Nico sure didn't care.

After what felt like ages, Nico sighed, his anger dissipating, "Sorry. I shouldn't have said that. It was out of line."

Jason shook his head, expressionless, his features reverting to that of a soldier facing a battlefield, "No you're right."

Nico wasn't quite sure what to make of that, but he accepted it and they walked along in silence. After a few seconds Jason stopped walking again and turned to face him.  
"But that doesn't mean I agree with you."

Nico almost crashed into the elderly woman in front of him, Jason had stopped so quickly. He hastily apologized and narrowed his eyes at Jason, "What do you mean?"

Jason grabbed Nico's arm, ignoring his protest, and guided him under an overhang. Nico jerked his arm out of Jason's hold and tried to enjoy the momentary respite from the beating sun.

"What I mean is, you're right…. But you're not. Because I don't think we have nothing in common," Jason raised his eyebrows at him, "and I try to talk to you, but all you do is shut me out. You shut everyone out. It's like you have this psychological bubble around yourself that you won't let anyone break through."

"Has it ever occurred to you that I LIKE being by myself?" Nico said harshly. A tourist and her children passed by, glancing their direction, but as soon as she and Nico made eye contact she scurried away.

"That's exactly what I'm talking about. You scare people away, and I'm pretty sure you do it on purpose," Jason crossed his arms, but he didn't look angry. More like concerned. "Nico, no one likes being alone. No one. So I don't believe you when you try to prove me otherwise."

Nico didn't plan on retaliating, but the words spilled out of him like a dam was breaking open, "So what?! I've told you before! I'm the son of Hades. People don't WANT me around. It's better to stay quiet and stay out of everyone's way… Even Percy-" Nico's voice caught on Percy's name.

"Percy what? Hates you? 'Cause he doesn't."

Nico scoffed, "Got a funny way of showing it."

Jason sighed, "I'm being serious. I don't know what your guy's relationship was like before, but you've done pretty well in pushing him away too. And if anything he does trust you, even it is a tentative trust. So trying to stop us from trying to reach out and be friends with you is really a losing battle. Not everyone will like you. And not everyone is going to trust you. I can attest to that personally. But you don't need everyone to love you. You just need one person to be there when you need them."

Nico glared at him, "what's the point, it's not like people are going to like me. People don't like death."

Jason smiled, "I like you. I wouldn't be trying so hard if I didn't."

Nico found himself rendered speechless. He didn't know what to say, or how to respond. Fortunately, he didn't have too. Jason just smiled at him, and gestured over his shoulder for him to follow him to the others. As they met up with the group at the border between Frontierland and New Orleans Square Nico watched the others interact. They all seemed to be happy, so at ease with one another. Even Reyna, who had always seemed out of place in the Seven's tight knit group.

As he watched them, Nico found himself wondering if Jason was right.


	4. Awkward Standing in Line talk with Leo

**Okay, so this one is going to be super short cause my bestie asked for some Leo and Nico interaction and I needed a chapter to try and figure out just how the hell to make that happen since in cannon, they hardly speak to one another and as characters they are SUPER AWKWARD.**

**Also, to that one guest who told me I was writing about DisneyWorld and not Disneyland... I hate to tell you this, but I live in LA County. My friends and I drive down to Disneyland just for the hell of it (even if we can't afford to actually go inside the park). I live and breathe the Disneyland. I have never once been to Florida. This whole fic is based off personal experiences I've had inside the park itself. **

**(Also DisneyWorld and Disneyland are mostly the same except the one in Florida is bigger and the rides are better done because they had more room to build and expand.)**

**This has been a PSA.**

IV

When they got into line for _Pirates of the Caribbean_ Nico was secretly glad. He'd watched the first movie when he'd been staying at Greyon's Ranch, which felt like forever ago, and he'd recently come across the other three. For once, he'd actually understand what was going on.

The line was a twisted snake, and was atrociously long, but no one in their group seemed to care. Piper was leaning on Jason, eating some frozen lemonade, listening as her boyfriend and Reyna talked about something. Percy and Annabeth were joking around with Hazel and Frank. Leo was standing next to Nico awkwardly, playing with some metal tools.

Leo noticed him staring and raised his eyebrows, "Can I help you?"

Nico shook his head and glanced away, feeling uncomfortable. He felt Leo's curious gaze on him, and flinched away.

Nico was pretty sure that Leo was making a face, though he couldn't tell, "Jeez… I don't smell THAT BAD do I?"

Nico bit his lip, trying not to smile at the obvious sarcasm, "Not really. Could do with less cologne though."

Leo looked a little shocked and then cracked a smile, "That was sarcasm wasn't it?"

"You're powers of observation are astounding, really," Nico said blandly. Leo actually laughed, which confused him a little. Nico wasn't exactly a comedian.

"So you are human. That's good. I was beginning to think you were a statue," Leo shuffled to press in closer to the rest of their party, who has moved forward to take up the empty space in the line.

Nico wasn't sure whether or not to be insulted, "Um… thank you? I guess."

Leo stared down at his feet, playing with his tool belt absent mindedly. Nico came to the realization that Leo probably felt just as uncomfortable as he did. It's not like they talked all that much.

"You know," Leo started, still staring at the ground, "Before I met you… I was a little suspicious of you…"

Nico stared at him, "And you're telling me this because…?"

Leo shrugged, "I dunno… I just felt like… I needed to say it. I mean, you kind of weird me out, but you seem like a nice enough guy..." Leo sighed and ran his hands through his hair, "I should just stop talking."

Nico wasn't quite sure what to say, "Um…" shoved his hands in his jacket pockets.

Leo seemed to notice how uncomfortable he looked, "Sorry. Forget I said anything."

"No…" Nico made eye contact with Leo, "its okay. You didn't say anything wrong."

Leo's shoulder's sagged a little, looking relieved, "Thanks. So…"

Nico watched Leo out of the corner of his eye, wondering what on earth he would want to talk about.

"This is going to sound really weird and probably really intrusive…"

"If you're going to start like that, then you're better off not asking," Nico said.

Leo flinched, "You're not even going to let me finish?"

"Sorry," Nico said as apologetically as he could manage, "You can finish. Just don't expect me to answer."

Leo reluctantly continued, appearing a little freaked out, "So I was thinking. Annabeth and Percy went through Tartarus together and barely made it out alive."

"Yes…. So?"

Leo looked him in the eyes, which was a contrast to their whole conversation so far, "So. You were by yourself. How did you survive?"

Nico tried not think about it, but memories of the Greek primordial hell came rushing back to him. In a matter of seconds, he was trapped again, lost, and more alone than he'd ever been. He remembered stumbling around Tartarus blindly, narrowly avoiding and defeating monsters. His throat was burning with the fire water he had been drinking to stay alive. Nico had wanted to give up so many times. Just lie down and sleep forever. His mind had been frayed and broken to the point where he almost couldn't function. He'd almost been grateful when he'd been captured. At least he hadn't had to fight anymore. He also never wanted to sleep again, after being out of commission for so long, but that was a whole other story.

Nico tried to form a way to relate his thought in the quickest, simplest way possible, "It was tough," he admitted, "If I hadn't had the thought of the people I cared about up here… I probably would have given up."

Leo nodded in simple understanding, and Nico appreciated that he didn't look sympathetic. He wasn't sure he would be able to handle it if people suddenly started feeling sorry for him.

"I know that this probably doesn't mean all that much… but I think that's kind of amazing," Leo shuffled again, and Nico noticed that somehow during the course of their conversation they had moved indoors. He took note of the water flowing next to them in an artificial river. The talking parrot on the treasure chest was so obviously fake, Nico almost laughed.

"Why would you think that?" Nico said sourly.

Leo shrugged, going back to playing with what he was working on before, "If I had been in your place, I don't think I would have made it. If I didn't have someone with me, I probably would have given up before I even reached the bottom."

Nico tried not to make biting comments about Leo couldn't possibly understand what hell is like to make that assumption, "I'm used to being alone… So it wasn't that much different than real life. Just scarier."

Leo nodded again, "That makes sense," Leo paused, like he was thinking about something important, "I don't think you're alone as you think you are."

"What makes you think that?" if Nico was going to keep having intimate conversations with strangers, he might as well conserve his energy and stop being annoyed with it.

Leo looked uncomfortable, "I'm not really all that good with people either. Honestly, I think this the longest conversation I've had in a while. But Hazel cares about you."

"She's my sister," Nico said.

"So? Siblings don't always like each other," Leo shrugged, "not that I would know. I'm an only child. Aside from that, you have people who care about you. Like Percy, and Jason, and Reyna. No one here hates you."

Nico let that sink in for a moment. He was aware that he was an outcast… he'd known that from the beginning. Aside from being the child of Hades, he was younger, with less life experience. Most of the demigods he interacted with would always view him as a child who needed protection. At least, that's what he'd come to know.

They neared the end of the line, where a crew member was splitting the crowd into different rows on the boats. Nico thought about what Leo had said, and came to a realization.

"What about you?"

Leo looked surprised, "What about me?"

It was Nico's turn to shrug, "You have friends you can count on. Everyone seems to like you. But you said you're not good with people. Why?"

Leo shook his head, "I joke around because I'm uncomfortable. It's a defense mechanism. And most of the time, I don't know how to read people. If I person breaks, I can't fix them. So I usually fade into the background," he glanced at the ground, scuffing his show against the rock pathway, "I've always been a sort of outcast, you know?"

Nico nodded. Being the outcast was a feeling he understood all too well.

"Yeah. I get that."

They waited their turn to be directed toward a boat in absolute silence after that. At the moment, there was nothing more to say. They mutually understood that they didn't need to say anything more. But the silence wasn't uncomfortable. It was more companionable. Nico couldn't ignore a gnawing feeling in his gut that something was about to go horribly wrong, but he pushed it aside. He didn't want to ruin the positive atmosphere.

Nico leaned up against the fake wood wall, crossing his arms and listening to Percy and Hazel argue about something he couldn't quite make out with all the noise. He found himself smiling in spite of himself.

Now that he thought about it, he really was a lucky guy.


End file.
